1 - KatLondon
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- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
My new Royal Royalite
Well - I don't actually *have* it yet... but I just 'got it' on you-know-where and am going to collect it as soon as the seller says I can. I am justifying it by the fact that it was £15. I've worked out that it's 1958 or earlier - & I am a sucker for these little round keys of the 1950s, I love them.
The description says it needs some 'minor maintenance' to get it going again; the same seller was also selling a 1930s Royal last week, so she seems to know what she's talking about.And it looks in nice nick, not filthy, so maybe it will be nice! The case is in good condition too. Altogether NOT one of my usual bashed-up bargains, then. Maybe. (Actually, I need to qualify that. My SM8 was £5 and it is glorious.)
Anyway, hit me with any Royalite lore you have, Uwe I know you like yours... I've seen it sunning itself. 
- Spazmelda
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- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: My new Royal Royalite
I just received one from ebay as well. It's got some issues, but it does type. I wish I knew more about fixing and working on them. Did you get yours? How was it?
- KatLondon
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
Hi Spazmelda, well get this. I've already sold it!! It was really sweet and the case especially was in utterly wonderful condition. Really impressive-looking. The carriage wasn't moving, and there was an issue with the space ar, but Isorted those out with some tlc. It needed lots of coaxing back into life. I cleaned it and all that... but the issue was, I type quite fast and it just wasn't having it - skipping, and shadows on the letters, and being a little bit annoying. Bless it. I think the platen is the problem, it's just fairly hard. So I cleaned it with rubber rejvenator, and kept using the maching to see how it would go. And new ribbon, obvs.
And it cleaned up beautifully! It had been well used but also well taken care of, clearly. It shined up a treat with no scratched, just a great little machine. It totally looked the business.
But there is a money issue here and a space issue, and I'm having to turn my typing room into a guest room for the next three months for the cousin of a friend who is doing a course in London; so I put it up on eBay. Sold it the other day to a LOVELY young guy who is getting it for his girlfriend. They apparently have a deal that if he gets her a typewriter, she will get him one in three months. It must be their birthdays. I gave him all the info re rubber rejuvenator and tips and hints and a pdf of the manual, and the link to The Typewriter Man's website for ribbons... he was really happy. And he was not typing as fast as I do, and I think it was behaving itself better! So fingers crossed, will be great for them. And he got it for a great price considering that I had fixed it up so well. I just didn't have the heart to charge much for it considering the platen and the skipping...
And that is my Royal Royalite story.
Last edited by KatLondon (14-3-2015 16:03:24)
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Thread Starter- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: My new Royal Royalite
And a nice story!
The one I got, the platen seems to be in good condition. The type bars were a bit dirty, but they are cleaning up well. Something is wonky with the ribbon advance though. It seems to pull off a bit more than it needs, and then the spooling has to catch up, and shifting sometimes gets the ribbon in a bit of a wad. I think the vibrator isn't quite right, but I don't know what to do to adjust it. Also the carriage return doesn't always quite return all the way, it's sometimes off by one character space. That may be a cleaning issue. The case is in excellent condition. I'd like to apprentice to a typewriter repair person, lol. Like learning about stuff like that. I feel like if I go monkeying around inside too much I'm going to do something that messes it up.
Last edited by Spazmelda (14-3-2015 16:48:23)
- Guess I'll Try
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
I have been told, by a typewriter repairmann, that cleaning the machine right solves a host of problems; he always cleanes a typewriter before doing adjustments.
- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
Yes, I took the bottom off and did a little cleaning, but I'm certain it needs more. It will have to wait until next week for me to dig into it again. Is there a cleaning tutorial anywhere?
Never mind, Google helped me.
Last edited by Spazmelda (14-3-2015 17:40:33)
- Spazmelda
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
Humph, my royalite developed a much more major problem today. It was typing okay, then the backspace key started releasing the carriage and taking me all the way to the right margin. Then, the carriage quit staying in place at all and just goes automatically to the right margin. I picked it up and turned it over thinking maybe dirt or piece of guck had fallen into the carriage rails (or some mysterious interior part of the machine) and a small bolt fell out onto the floor.
Darn it!
- M. Höhne
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- Registered: 14-3-2013
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
Spazmelda wrote:
Humph, my royalite developed a much more major problem today. It was typing okay, then the backspace key started releasing the carriage and taking me all the way to the right margin. Then, the carriage quit staying in place at all and just goes automatically to the right margin. I picked it up and turned it over thinking maybe dirt or piece of guck had fallen into the carriage rails (or some mysterious interior part of the machine) and a small bolt fell out onto the floor.
Darn it!
Darn it, indeed! But there's good news and maybe bad news. This kind of problem is easier than many to diagnose and fix in that you start off with a clue: something is disconnected (rather than stuck) in the area of the carriage (rather than the keys or universal bar, e.g.). The symptoms point to the escapement area---bad news, because that is one of the most complicated parts of a typewriter and often hardest to get at.
Begin by shaking the machine to see if other pieces have come loose, like a nut or a bracket, so you don't lose them inadvertently. In fact, you said "bolt", which implies it had a nut, while a screw doesn't usually have a nut since it goes into a threaded hole. Usually. This is not hard-and-fast terminology. Most parts are held by more than one screw, though a lot of brackets are not.
Then look underneath for a dangling link or something obviously loose. If you find a loose link, swing it around its other pivot to see if it lines up with a hole that your screw came out of. (It might not line up easily if it has spring tension on it.) If you find such a situation, you have only to put it back together. If you're lucky, the place will be accessible; if not, it'll be deep inside and hard to get to and you might even have to remove other parts to get at the repair area. Fortunately a Royalite is small and most places are pretty reachable.
If nothing is clearly loose, the appearance of the bolt/screw in your hand is a clue; look for others like it and see if there's an empty hole either nearby or in a symetrical area on the other side. You can also look for just a plain ole empty hole, maybe cleaner than the area around it. Then maybe you can notice what it should be holding.
Finally, just working the mechanism can help find the problem. Watch what the backspace key is trying to do and see where its motion stops being effective (if that makes sense). Take it from there or ask more questions with your new-found info.
HTH. We have to get you back in action with this writing machine!
- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
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Re: My new Royal Royalite
Thanks very much! I will not have any time to break into it until Tuesday, but that will be my plan. If all else fails, I can take it to Richard Polt as he's close by here and he fixed up my Olivetti. I'd like to see if I can figure it out myself, but I will accept defeat if necessary.
ETA: well, now here is something... I said I wouldn't have time until Tuesday, but I couldn't resist, so I took the bottom and the case off, and now it is working? I did not immediately see where the bolt goes, but I will need to find my magnifying goggles and give it a closer look.
At any rate, it seems that something about the way I had the case put on was causing the carriage mechanism to not catch. I think the base may be missing something or ?? There are 6 screw holes that seem to screw up into the body, then there are 4 more that go through the rubber feet and into the body. I took the first 6 off (the ones that don't go through the feet) and when I did that the ones that go through the feet just pulled right through the rubber grommet things. So, it seems that they weren't actually holding anything in place. That might be the/an issue. It almost seems like they might need a washer or something to keep them from pulling through the rubber grommets. I had noticed when typing on it, that the body did not seem to be quite firmly attached to the case, as the keyboard would kind of float around a bit. Maybe that was causing something to interfere with the carriage mechanisms? Now I just have to figure out how to get the bottom back on, securely, and not interfering with anything, if that is the problem. Oh, and I guess figure out where the nut goes (it was actually a nut, not a bolt- brain fart on my part).
Last edited by Spazmelda (15-3-2015 17:20:16)
- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: My new Royal Royalite
Oh, should I start a new thread? Normally I'd feel bad hijacking, but since Kat sold hers it doesn't seem so rude.
